racist voegelin (was re: Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism?)

[lorentzen-nicklaus]

cathy ramirez schrieb:

> _Modernity Without Restraint_ presents three of Erik
> Voegelin's essays on the modern political religions,
> including Marxism, National Socialism, Hegelianism,
> Nietzschianism, and Heideggerianism. To Voegelin,


 in this week's edition of 'die zeit' there's a letter to the editor by ulrich  
 steinvorth that deals with voegelin's early work ("rasse und staat", 
 tübingen 1933: mohr):

 whom do you trust?


 "dank für ihren artikel über eric voegelin. die öffentlichkeit verdient es 
jedoch auch zu erfahren, dass 1933 bei mohr in tübingen ein buch von eric 
voegelin, privatdozenz an der universität wien, mit dem titel RASSE UND STAAT 
erschien. voegelin vergleicht 'judentum' und 'nordische idee' und erklärt, das 
'judentum' sei, verglichen mit der positiv gewerteten gemeinschaft ... ein 
nichts' (207). er spricht von der 'trennung der großen kulturschöpferischen 
nordischen rasse von den anderen minder begabten' und dem 'politischen gegensatz 
der rassen ... mit seiner steigerung zu einem weltgeschichtlichen kampf zwischen 
einem prinzip des guten und bösen' (158f).
 
 1933 wurden gewiss fanatischere schriften zum rassismus veröffentlicht. aber 
voegelins anspruch, den stephan sattler wiederholt, er sei 'dem 
nationalsozialismus gegenüber resistent' geblieben, ist nicht glaubwürdig. es 
ist wohl kein zufall, dass voegelins buch RASSE UND STAAT in keiner seiner 
offiziellen bibliogaphien auftaucht. dabei ist es sehr leicht zugänglich, 
ausleihbar etwa in der staats- und universitätsbibliothek hamburg."

      prof. ulrich steinvorth/ philosophisches seminar/ universität hamburg 
   
 
 thought you might be interested.... and then "voegelin's knowledge of the 
 authentic gnostic writings can hardly be established" (sloterdijk) ...


                                         later, kai

> these
> thinkers are all best described as "gnostics" and in
> their effort to create God's Kingdom on Earth seek to
> "immanentize the Christian eschaton". In "The
> Political Religions", Voegelin traces back the origin
> of political religion to the Egyptian worship of the
> Sun, the cult of Akhenaton. He traverses the history
> of the Middle Ages, and he shows how the archetype of
> the Christian apocalypse (a heresy to the orthodox
> Christian) came to occupy a central role in political
> religion. He includes a good discussion of the
> leviathanic state of Thomas Hobbes. Finally he
> ends with a compelling picture of the National
> Socialist state embodied in the Fuehrer. Although he
> was criticized in this essay for not outrightly
> condemning the National Socialists, Voegelin stated
> that this in fact just reveals the satanic allure that
> this political religion holds. To Voegelin,         
> National Socialism is "satanic". In "The New Science
> of Politics", Voegelin examines various modes of
> representation from Plato and Aristotle through the
> Roman Empire. He then discusses the idea of
> gnosticism; he views the modern political religions as
> a restoration of the Gnostic heresy (condemned by
> early Christianity), an attempt to replace            
>   faith with certainty and bring about the Kingdom of
> God on Earth. This idea arose in the apocalyptic
> tradition, transmitted through the Middle Ages by the
> followers of Joachim de Fiore. He discusses in
> particular the
> case of the English Puritans. According to Voegelin,
> the modern political philosophies of liberalism,
> communism, and the philosophy of Thomas
> Hobbes are under the spell of gnosticism. In "Science,
> Politics, and Gnosticism", the most interesting of the
> essays presented, Voegelin delves into the thinkers
> Hegel, Marx ("an intellectual swindler"),             
> Nietzsche ("the murder of God"), Heidegger, and
> psychoanalysis and National Socialism. To Voegelin,
> these thinkers are all "gnostics", and the
> movements spurred by their philosophies are "ersatz
> religions". Voegelin represents an interesting
> alternative to modernity and liberalism.
> And this book among his collected works serves as an
> excellent introduction to the thought of this profound
> thinker, philosopher of gnosticism. 
>